Past Store Fronts

Like so many parts of the United States, in rural South Carolina we find places thatare past their heyday, almost gone, but have not disappeared yet. These are places thathave lost their future but still retain traces of their past usefulness or glory. These siteswere once stops along our way to a destination - or destinations in and of themselves.Now these locations are nothing but “places between.” The images show buildingsand businesses in their twilight, on their way to being razed. Some of the placespresented here have been literally bypassed by faster roads, and all of them, sometimesquietly other times blatantly, have been left to suffer the injuries of time and neglect.These places would have echoed with the potential for life even when they weretemporarily empty, once abandoned they become haunted by that lost potential. Intheir abandonment they have become the memento mori of our times; they are neithermonumental nor purposeful. These forgotten places well befit our age of consumerism;where we discard so much and willfully look the other way in the hope of convincingourselves that we will get the happily ever after we so desperately crave.